Rwanda is set to launch a census for people with disabilities (PwDs) in November aimed at knowing their number and categorising them according to the type and level of disability in question, as well as understanding their needs, The New Times understands.

It is expected that the exercise will be completed by the end of this financial year — June 30, 2024 — according to the Executive Secretary of the National Council of Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Emmanuel Ndayisaba.

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Here are six things to know about this census that will be tech-based.

1. Census to begin with 15 districts

Ndayisaba told The New Times that the census will first be conducted in 15 districts which are believed to have a high number of people with disabilities.

The districts are Gasabo (in Kigali), Nyagatare, Bugesera, Gatsibo and Kayonza, Kirehe, Ngoma and Rwamagana (in Eastern Province), Nyamasheke, Rusizi, and Rubavu (Western Province), Gicumbi and Musanze (in Northern Province), and Ruhango and Huye in Southern Province.

He indicated that they finished building a system that will be used for the census and that a pilot was conducted in eight sectors of Gasabo, from August to September 2022, in line with testing its effectiveness.

The pilot count/census of people with disabilities was carried out in Gasabo District last year.

2. Number of enumerators

Ndayisaba said each sector will have two enumerators for the census, indicating that the initial 15 districts where it will be carried out total 214 sectors, corresponding to 428 enumerators.

Given that Rwanda has 416 sectors, overall, it is expected that the entire census will have 832 enumerators.

"The census will be done digitally; we have a tablet we will give to every enumerator [for data collection],” he said, pointing out that questions to be asked during the full count are in the system installed in the tablets.

He pointed out that in the week that starts on October 23, they will train trainers of enumerators, and the coaching of enumerators will take place after.

3. Why counting children under five matters

In terms of statistics, Ndayisaba argued that children under five may be classified as people with disabilities. However, he pointed out that these children actually have conditions that can be addressed, leading to the exclusion of those under five in disability data.

"For us, the data we need most is about those who are too young (children under five) so that it helps devise strategies to treat them early because early treatment can make them get rid of disabilities,” he said.

Also, he said that the census will also look at the challenges or issues that people with different disabilities face to better inform interventions meant to solve them.

According to data from the 5th Population and Housing Census Rwanda 2022, there were 391,775 people with disabilities aged five years and above among a total resident population of 13.24 million, representing a disability prevalence rate of 3.4 per cent in the country.

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4. Budget

Ndayisaba said about Rwf900 million was needed for carrying out the census, indicating that, so far, the government has provided Rwf400 million for the exercise under the current financial year national budget — and that another partner gave Rwf60 million.

He expressed hope that the remaining funding will be availed during the budget revision, which is due in February 2024.

5. Asking questions for holistic understanding

For a comprehensive understanding of the state of disability in the country, the census will use a set of questions, including the Washington Group questions on disabilities.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, they were developed by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics as a standard set of universal questions on disability to use in censuses and surveys.

These questions identify and measure disability across multiple domains of functioning and enable the comparison of data. They focus on difficulties in seeing, hearing, mobility, communication, cognition, and self-care.

6. System to be linked to other existing databases

The system will enable data updates over time such that it will save time and money in the long run.

Ndayisaba indicated that it will also be linked to various systems including that for identification (managed by the National Identification Agency), health (managed by the Ministry of Health), and social registry administered by the Local Administrative Entities Development Agency (LODA).

This, he said, will ease access to general data regarding people with disabilities in Rwanda, including their number, and types of disabilities, but pointed out that privacy data such as identification will not be made publicly accessible.